Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Karsten Danzmann
Curriculum Vitae
Karsten Danzmann was born in Rotenburg/Wümme in 1955. He obtained a degree in physics at the University of Hanover in 1977, where he completed his doctorate in physics in 1980. After a period as a visiting scientist at Stanford University from 1982 to 1983, he then worked as a research assistant at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Berlin until 1986. In 1986, he returned to Stanford University as Acting Assistant Professor of Physics before joining the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching as project leader in the field of gravitational waves in 1990. In 1993, he was appointed Professor at the University of Hanover and has since headed the Institute for Gravitational Physics there. Since 2002, he has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Hanover branch.
Research Interests
Karsten Danzmann's department designs and operates large detectors for gravitational waves on Earth (such as GEO600, LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA) and in space (LISA Pathfinder and LISA). They also carry out a wide range of supporting laboratory experiments in the fields of quantum optics and laser physics. Many of the department's developments are used at all major gravitational wave observatories. The researchers make decisive contributions to the technology for future detectors.
Selected Awards
Karsten Danzmann received the Körber Prize for European Science 2017, the Otto Hahn Prize 2017, the Stern-Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society 2018 and the Edison Volta Prize 2018 of the European Physical Society for his decisive contributions to the first direct observations of gravitational waves.